Employee assistance Report
Volume 15, No. 5 May 2012
supporting
E AP
professionals
Social Media Marketing for EAPs By Marina London, LCSW, CEAP
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t a conference in 2010, Eric Schmidt, then CEO of Google, stated: “Every two days, we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003.” Jeff Bulla, a social media expert from Australia, recently pointed out that we are in the midst of an “information tsunami.” To prove his point, he cited the following statistics: • In 2011 more than 7 trillion text messages were sent. Every day: • More than 300 billion emails are exchanged. • YouTube receives 3 billion views. (There are 48 hours of videos uploaded to YouTube every minute.)
May 2012
• 250 million photos are uploaded to Facebook. • 200 million tweets are tweeted. As a result, it comes as no surprise that many employee assistance professionals feel they are drowning in social media and unsure how best to utilize it to their own professional benefit. How does your employee assistance message get heard? It’s easy – follow these nine simple rules and create some great social media content: v Your EAP should have an app. According to research, the number of people accessing the mobile Internet is growing fast. Estimates indicate at the end of 2009 nearly 530 million users browsed the mobile Web on their smartphones. There were about 5.3 billion mobile phone subscriptions at the end of 2010, which equates to 77% of the world population. This will increase to over 1 billion by 2015. This means that every EAP should think about creating a mobile app for iPhone, iPad, Rim, Android, etc. If you do just one thing in 2012, this is it. To the best of my knowledge, Morneau Shepell, a Canadian company, was one of the first, if not the first EAP to launch an app, “My
EAP” in May 2011 – and he has been improving it ever since. The app delivers interactive tools, support resources and access to EA services via mobile devices to provide easy and effective access for busy clients on the go. The app is available at no cost via the App Store and BlackBerry App World. You can download it in a matter of seconds onto your mobile device via either of the following links: continued on Page 2
F e at u r e d I n s i d e There’s an App for Everybody Small Tips can = BIG Savings The Employee’s Bill of
Emotional Rights 40 Years Later, Mental Illness
Remains a Mystery Overcoming Work-related
Phobias EAP is Key in Curbing Health
Care Costs – Part II Coping with a Pessimist Resources Presentation Skills that Result
in Action INSERTS Brown Bagger: E-Therapy
Playing Emerging Role as EAP Resource Payroll Stuffers LifestyleTIPS©
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